Spring Break 2021 - War Torn Syria!

COVID-19 ruined a lot of people's travel plans, but it's not too early to start looking ahead and planning your next vacation with the family ... 

With bombs dropping in Syria, rockets hitting the Gaza strip, and political unrest in Ukraine, War Zone Tourism COULD NOT be hotter, BUT this trend is nothing new. The idea of war has always fascinated people with the grandeur and glory driven home by war stories, so civilians want to see what it's all about.

Booking tickets for a 5-night vacation to an active warzone is new, but civilians have been tagging along to the battlefield for centuries. 

The Battle of Waterloo, The War of 1812, and several naval battles between Europe's superpowers all attracted War Tourists, but curiosity about the battlefield reached its peak when English nobles tagged along to watch the British army advance on the Russians in the Crimean War (1853-1856). 

Lack of supplies, extreme weather, and disease made for absolutely brutal and unsanitary conditions. Things got so bad for the British troops that they began cooking and eating their starved horses. Not that there was much meat left on the bone, their own horses were so emaciated, the horses resorted to eating each other's tails to fill their stomachs.

English nobles returned from the Crimean battlefields and spread the horrors of war through word of mouth and writing. Mark Twain even took an expedition to see the horrible aftermath of the war for himself, which he wrote about in several of his works including the short story Lucky. 

Word of mouth and endorsements from rockstar authors were great for showing the horrors of war, but nothing worked better than cameras bringing the frontlines home to civilians. The Crimean war gave us the first battlefield photos, but the American Civil War (1861-1865) was the first war told through pictures. 

These photos showing the not so glorious aftermath of battle drove home to civilians the reality of war, BUT that's not before a few war tourists, composed of Washington D.C. elites, almost died during the first battle of the civil war - Bull Run.

Courtesy Everett Collection. Shutterstock Images.

While most war tourists were spectating well out of harm's way, a small group including New York Congressman Alfred Ely set up shop right behind the Union Army. During the Union Army's unexpected retreat, civilians caught up in the panic, and gunfire were trampled, but no one was seriously hurt. The Confederate's 8th South Carolina Infantry did manage to capture Congressman Ely and hold him prisoner for 5 months. 

War tourism spawned from a curiosity that technology has since been able to satiate, but for some reason, people feel the need to experience the chaos for themself. 

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